Former FEC Commissioners

Former FEC Commissioners are listed in reverse chronological order, based on the date of their initial appointment. Biographical information is provided for most Commissioners and -- for those who served after 2003 -- links to selected documents from the Commissioner's tenure at the agency may also be available. (Prior to 2003, Commissioners did not maintain their own web pages.) Commissioners framed in red were Republican appointees and those in blue were Democratic appointees.

Joan D. Aikens
April 1975 - September 1998
(Reappointed May 1976, December 1981, August 1983 and October 1989)

Thomas E. Harris
April 1975 - October 1986
(Reappointed May 1976 and June 1979)

Robert O. Tiernan
April 1975 - December 1981
(Reappointed May 1976)

Vernon W. Thomson
April 1975 - June 1979
(Reappointed May 1976)
January 1981 - December 1981

Neil O. Staebler
April 1975 - October 1978
(Reappointed May 1976)

Thomas B. Curtis
April 1975 - May 1976

Ex Officio Commissioners *

Clerk of the House

Donnald K. Anderson

January 1987 - October 1993

Benjamin U. Guthrie

January 1983 - January 1987

Edmund L. Henshaw, Jr.

December 1975 - January 1983

W. Pat Jennings

April 1975 - November 1975

Secretary of the Senate

Walter J. Stewart

January 1987 - October 1993

Jo-Anne L. Coe

January 1985 - January 1987

William F. Hildenbrand

January 1981 - January 1985

Joseph Stanley Kimmitt

April 1977 - January 1981

Francis R. Valeo

April 1975 - March 1977

*From 1975 through 1993, the Secretary of the Senate and the Clerk of the House were designated as nonvoting, ex officio Commissioners. In 1993, an appeals court ruled that the presence of nonvoting Congressionally appointed ex officio members on the
Commission violated the Constitution’s separation of powers. The Supreme Court dismissed the Commission’s
appeal for lack of jurisdiction. FEC v. NRA Political Victory Fund. Subsequent to the appeals court decision, the
Commission reconstituted itself as a six-member body.